J On The Spectrum - Disney's 100th Anniversary - Animation's Day Of Reckoning

Disney's 100th anniversary is this year, and to celebrate, I'm going to tell the story of this legendary animation company over a yearlong period.

After the low box office returns of both Pinocchio and Fantasia, Walt Disney needed to put a new feature into production fast. What he found was a story in a slim children's book called Dumbo, and he loved how simple it was, so that would become the basis of his next film.

This did not require expensive special effects or a lavish art style, and was bargain bin compared to the other features. This would mark the first Disney project for Sterling Holloway, who would provide the voices for tons of Disney characters over his long association with the studio, including the voice for Winnie the Pooh.

Yet even as the film was in production, trouble was brewing. Employees were complaining about getting overworked and underpaid, and believed they should unionize, something Walt Disney was against. Despite this, Art Babbitt, one of Disney's top animators at the time, had the Screen Cartoonists' Guild vote to hold a strike, which occurred May 29, 1941.

The strike was crazy, and at one point Walt potentially gang tackled Art Babbitt for throwing some insults at him. After the strike, the atmosphere at the studio seemed grim. Employees were now afraid of Walt, and the ones that turned against him during the strike, they were not only laid off, but also in Walt's words, he would call them Communists, which was a big insult to give to someone at that time.

The Nine Old Men and the other animators still remained faithful to Disney, and despite these shortcomings, he still needed to complete both Dumbo and Bambi. Yet the economic constraints were coming against him, and the studio shelved films and departments to save money, and the hard reality of the real world would rupture his fantasy that Walt Disney was creating.

Next week, the Golden Age ends, a World War begins, and a special guest will appear to tell us about Bambi. Who, you may ask? Stay tuned!